My Brother's First Date
by TheSingingGirl
Summary: Alice, of course, watched the entire meadow scene. She had to, just in case. Well, alright, so she was curious. And she had to interfere, just a little... Canon APOV
1. Prologue

A/N: This does what it says on the tin. The Meadow Scene (and the rest of the day), from Alice's point of view. Of course she was watching all day, just in case, so this is what actually happened. It seems to me that Bella missed quite a lot, hence the reason this fic is so long. It does extend to 11 chapters (which vary in length, to be fair), plus this prologue, and took me forever to write. I'm not complaining though. It's the most fun I've had in years.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Twilight. I just created a back story that covers seventy years. Hee hee, that's a later chapter.

* * *

"Have fun!" I chirped to Edward as he descended the porch steps.

He turned to look at me with a hopeful look in his eye. "You'd know better than me whether I will."

In response, I merely grinned, and began mentally reciting Juliet's famous monologue from the Act Two, Scene Two of Romeo and Juliet. In Latin.

He sighed, and set off running. I continued with my translated recital only until I was absolutely certain he couldn't hear me any more, then I dropped my grin and dashed into the house.

"Don't interrupt me today, I'm busy!" I yelled, though I knew my family would have heard me if I'd whispered. Shouting was an annoying habit I'd picked up from Emmett, and continued with to irritate Edward and Rosalie. True to form, Rosalie muttered something rather rude about a deafening little pixie, and Esme sighed. She'd long since given up telling me off about my excessive use of decibels. I ignored both of them and curled up on the white loveseat in the centre of the living room. However much I'd teased Edward yesterday afternoon, I had very little idea over how his first proper 'date' would go. Too few decisions had been made, and even what I had seen could change at a moment's notice.

Thankfully, not many of my family were around today. Emmett and Rosalie had plans… well, I wouldn't be seeing much of them, if I could help it. Once Jasper had heard of my - and their – intentions, he had taken the opportunity to go hunting.

Carlisle was working the Saturday shift; he had worked out a meticulous plan for working on those rare sunny days. He arranged his work in the north side of the hospital, shut the blinds the night before, had a private parking space in the shade… anything so he didn't have to miss as many days as would otherwise have been necessary. On the days where he couldn't avoid exposure – and that was most of them, to be honest – I would warn him and he would take the day off like the rest of us. Of course, us 'kids' barely needed an excuse to escape the hell that was high school.

Only Esme would ask me for details today, and I was happy to share them with her. She was as nervous and as excited as me.

I took a deep, unnecessary breath, and flung myself into the future.


	2. Chapter 1

Edward was just about to arrive at Bella's, and I saw her open the door. She smiled, but his face was serious. Way to attract a girl, Edward, I thought, but thankfully he began to laugh as he processed their matching outfits. I beamed; of course I had picked out my brother's clothes for the day, in order to diffuse his tense mood. Rejoicing in my own cleverness, I skipped forward a few minutes, and saw Bella driving her ancient, rusty truck out of Forks. I smiled again; Edward's agreement to let Bella drive had been a great source of hilarity in the Cullen household. Edward detested being a passenger and his love of cars nearly matched Rosalie's. For him to put this aside for a girl – and a human girl at that – had provoked Emmett and Jasper to tease their brother mercilessly for the last few days. I had almost (but not quite) begun to regret telling them. Leaving the past again, I wondered why on earth Edward had agreed to this. She was driving so slowly! Of course, he'd told me what the other option was in their compromise and now, watching him watch her, I knew he would never agree not to listen out for her.

The mood suddenly shifted. I frowned and focussed on reading their lips: Bella was going to tell Edward that no one knew where she was. His anger scared me – was he so worried about a motive to bring her home? Would he be that out of control? With a thrill of horror, I realised he would be. It was one of the many possibilities I'd seen last night, and I hurriedly sought it out again, sifting through my mental databank of scenes throughout time.

Sitting in the centre of the meadow, Bella was awestruck and terrified as my brother displayed exactly how easily he could kill her. Just as I was beginning to worry that this was more than a _possible _future, I realised that I had hit on the key word in my description: this was just a display, and that was all. The scene played out in my head as Edward placed his hand in Bella's and they smiled at each other. I smiled in response; how could Edward ever have denied he was in love?

At that point, Esme walked in. I looked up at my mother and saw the anxiety in her expression. She had been the first person who didn't have a sneak preview to theorise Edward's true feelings for Bella and I knew she was scared of him losing the chance to have a mate and, moreover, to feel love.

"They are so cute together!" I squealed.

"But is there a risk?" Esme replied, wincing slightly at my raised voice.

"He won't kill her," I reassured her, and prayed it was true. "There'll be a couple of close calls, I think, and she'll see the danger, but that's all."

Esme's face visibly smoothed out in relief, but a hint of worry still showed in the set of her brow, marring the usual twinkle of her topaz eyes.

"Do you know how she'll react to that?" The unspoken question was whether she could still love him after seeing the truth about his nature.

"Oh, I wish I could show you!" I exclaimed, thinking of Bella's smile: shy, scared, but still infinitely trusting. "She's extraordinary. When she worked out who we were, she only considered ignoring him for, literally, three seconds. Then she decided it didn't matter. That's what she said to him: 'it doesn't matter to me what you are'. Seriously, he thinks it's only a matter of time before he scares her off, but I'm certain that'll never happen."

My mother smiled. "Where are they now?"

I couldn't actually see the present moment, but I'd long since worked my way around that: I merely looked about a second into the future. Concentrating, I saw the truck shudder to a halt, dark trees surrounding it. The pair was still silent and I cursed Edward for his temper; he still hadn't forgiven her for not telling her father that she was with him. _I_ thought it was so touching, the way she was protecting him (and us) over herself. She obviously cared deeply for him.

Esme was still waiting for an answer. I came out of the vision, drawing my consciousness from one part of my brain to another, much like waking up from a dream. Or at least, that's what everyone else compared it to. I, of course, had no idea.

"They're just getting out of her truck. This next bit could get quite boring; he's decided to go at her speed to get there. The sun won't hit until-" I focussed on the clock opposite my window, waiting for the rays to hit it – "11:29."

"You are going to watch all the time? Just in case?"

I paused. "Edward did ask me to check. But it won't be a thought out decision, if he does go for her."

Esme flinched.

I carried on. "If it starts to change too much, I promised I would try to warn him. Just get close enough so he can hear me. I don't _think_ that will be necessary, but I'm not sure it's feasible, either…" I trailed off, thinking of Edward's rage if I failed to stop him, and flinched as well. And then there was the depression if she died or the guilt if we had to save her in the way only we could…

The worry on Esme's face prompted me to grin wickedly. "And of course, I want to know exactly how Edward's date goes."

"Normally, I would ask you to give your brother a little privacy, but today I'll let you off the hook." She sighed.

"Oh, you want to know what's going on just as much as me!"

She chuckled. "I can't deny that. It's been far too long. So go on then, carry on spying on Edward's first date!"

Still grinning, I slipped back to the forest. The hike was clearly unsettling Bella. I could understand that; of course as soon as Bella had mentioned that Edward had never seen her in Gym, I had taken the opportunity to watch as Edward listened in. She really was hopelessly clumsy.

As I watched her now, she hesitated upon reaching a fallen tree. I expected Edward to huff in impatience, but instead, he hesitated himself, before taking her arm and helping her over the obstacle. Bella glanced at him in surprise, but his eyes were cast down to her elbow, where his snowy skin met her blouse. I saw the blood pool in Bella's cheeks, her blush betraying the depth of the emotion she felt from that simple gesture, from the feeling of his cold fingers touching her. A sound accompanied the vision, which was rare when I didn't actively focus on noise. Bella's heartbeat spluttered for a moment and I knew he could hear it. I wondered what he thought of that.

Only a few seconds had passed before Edward dropped his hand as though scalded. I knew touching her was difficult for him – feeling the heat of her skin, the thud of her pulse, the rush of her blood – but I still felt a surge of annoyance as he pulled away. It wasn't directed at him for his cold behaviour or her for smelling so delicious, but just generally at the hopelessness of the situation. I quashed it for the moment and looked up at Esme, who had sat down next to me while I was unaware. Hm, I must have been quite deeply into the vision not to notice that. Normally, I was at least vaguely aware that something was happening around me.

Esme looked expectantly at me, and I happily obliged her with the details. "He touched her, just to help her over a tree, and her heart… oh, Esme, I don't know much about humans in love but her heart was flying for a second."

Instinctively, Esme's hand flew to her own, silent, heart. No words came from her lips, but her tender expression spoke volumes.

"He must change his mind," I murmured. "He must let Carlisle change her."

We both winced, remembering Edward's rage of last night.


	3. Chapter 2

After Edward and I had left to go hunting, he and I exchanged very little besides pleasantries for a few hours. He already knew my feelings on the situation: my joy for him and my insatiable curiosity. He even teased me about the questions raging through my mind, though he neglected to answer any. As soon as we had made a few kills, though, I had begun to pepper him with questions about his intentions out loud. He couldn't ignore me that way.

"So… where is this going then?"

"What do you mean, Alice?"

I stuck my tongue out. "You know. With Bella. What are you going to do about your relationship?"

"Do? Nothing, as yet. I don't know how she really feels about me. I don't even really know how I feel about her."

I raised my eyebrows. _We've already had this discussion, Edward. If you don't call this love, then what I have with Jasper isn't love either._

"Regardless, she needs to know exactly what she's letting herself in for. I need to give her the choice to leave." His voice was so calm and businesslike; it was hard to believe he was talking about the only girl he had loved in over a century.

_And if she decides to stay? Bearing in mind from what I've seen that is incredibly likely? _I asked. I had seen visions of her round the house, talking to us at school (well, me and Edward, anyway), shopping with me (though she seemed amazingly reluctant to actually do any shopping), a thousand little things that tied her life with ours.

Edward sighed. "I… don't really know," he admitted. It was a rare statement to come from Edward's lips and I wasn't convinced.

"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it, because you over-think _everything_, Edward. I know you," I reminded him.

"I know," he said, then was silent. I merely waited for a better answer, knowing he could hear my intentions. I wouldn't let him get away without telling me this one! Before he had a chance to elaborate, though, a vision blossomed before my eyes.

_An unnamed forest clearing, sunlight bathing the ferns and wildflowers as they waved and danced in the light, cooling breeze. A moment of anticipation, of leaves rustling, of grass fluttering. Then two shapes emerging from the shadows. People. Hand in hand, they step into the sunlight, and they shine like diamonds, blindingly bright. One pulls the other to the centre of the meadow, laughing joyfully. Laughter that peals like bells. High, dainty, a woman's voice, a girl's. She turns back to face her lover, still laughing until he stops the sound with a kiss. It is a long while before they break apart, of course they don't need to breathe, but eventually they do, and their eyes are filled with exactly the same love and contentment. His eyes, liquid gold. Hers, a burning amber. She is young to this life, and young to the human life too. No older than nineteen. No older than six months._

"_I love you, Edward."_

"_As I love you, my Bella."_

Bella faded from my view and the dark forest reasserted itself as I stared at Edward, a huge grin splitting my face. He had made the decision, or so I assumed. The right decision in my mind. Bella would be with him for eternity, and I would have a new sister. My cold heart swelled with joy.

"Your meadow?" I asked. It was a private place for him; no one else had ever been there, though we all knew where it was. It was saturated in his scent, after all.

He nodded, totally shell-shocked and I realised something was wrong. Why was he surprised? It was his decision… wasn't it?

_Edward? _I thought. _That was your decision, yes? You will have her changed?_

Mutely, he shook his head. A second passed before he was able to speak, and his voice was a low whisper. "I thought it was your decision."

It was my turn to shake my head in denial. Suddenly, without warning (even for me), Edward disappeared.

"Edward!" I shouted. Following the clear path that his scent had left, I simultaneously looked to see where he was going. Home. I pushed myself faster, knowing I could never catch him up.

"Edward, wait!" I cried again. I didn't have to look to the future to know what his actions would be when he found the remainder of our family. I could only pray he could keep his temper at least slightly in check.

As I sprinted, I wondered who it was who had decided to change Bella, and would actually be able to do it. Carlisle? No, I was sure he would wait to talk to Edward about it. Esme would never presume to interfere. Emmett wouldn't care enough about the entire situation, and he would side with his wife; Rosalie hated the girl. Jazz would never be able to. What was going on?

I broke through the last of the trees, vaulted over the river, and pelted for the back door. I didn't need a vampire's hearing to pick up Edward's words.

"… do that to her? She is seventeen, she deserves a life, not this hideous parody of the word! Who was it? Who?"

"Edward!" I yelled. "Stop it!" Before bursting through the door, I saw our entire family standing in the living room through the glass wall. Without exception, their faces were shocked. Obviously, none of them had a clue what was going on. Jasper turned when he heard my voice, and made to move towards me, but I leapt between Edward and our family, facing my irate brother.

"Edward, stop and think about this. None of them would do that without talking to you. Very few of them could even attempt it, and I didn't see her dead." His face, still full of rage, darkened further, so I hurried to continue. "It's not necessarily a direct decision. You know how my visions work as well as I do; maybe a chain of events has been set off, somewhere. Look, you would know better than me that no one in this room has decided to change her. And… it's not an ordinary vision," I suddenly realised. "It's like my first glimpse of our family or my first sight of Jasper."

I was thinking out loud now, evaluating, comparing, theorising. "You couldn't know, you never saw them when they first appeared, but they have the same feeling about them. I can't quite put my finger on it…" I pulled the vision to the forefront of my mind, re-examining it. "It's sort of… inevitable, impossible to change… as though any and every path we take will lead to this moment…" I trailed off, lost in thought, lost in time.

I watched as the scene played out again in my head. Usually my visions were soundless, unless I concentrated hard. Here, however, I could hear everything as though I were there with them. It wasn't just the sound that was different, either – the colours seemed more vibrant than they would even in real life. Curiously, I broke out of the vision, still thinking.

"I don't think a decision was involved at all," I said to Edward, who was looking horrified, incredulous, murderous and guilty all at the same time: quite a feat, I thought. "Can I try something?" I asked him, tentatively running a plan through my mind. He nodded, slowly. I turned to Rosalie.

"Rose, could you decide to kill her? I know you don't like her, it shouldn't be hard to keep the conviction up for a minute or two." Rosalie's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait a minute," Carlisle interjected. "Alice, would you care to explain what on earth is going on, since Edward was less than eloquent in his explanation?"

I glanced at Edward, who now added shame to his mind-boggling array of emotions, before answering. "Well, while we were hunting, I had a vision of Bella Swan, as a vampire, with Edward. But Edward hadn't decided to change her, and neither had I, whereupon Edward assumed it was one of you, so we came back. Which leads us up to now. The reason I want Rosalie to decide to kill Bella is because it feels like we can't change this future. So I thought I'd test that theory." I faced Rosalie again. "Rose?"

She nodded and we watched her face go past angry and reach livid as she talked herself internally into killing Bella. Both Edward and Jasper tensed by my sides, and I put a restraining hand on each of them, linking the three of us together. Jazz was struggling not to calm her down and Edward was forced to listen to his sister's murderous thoughts, but it was the surest way of testing the vision.

I slipped back to the future, seeing yet again the newborn vampire laugh and pull my brother through the long grass. I waited, replaying the scene over and over, until I felt a faint tug at the edge of my mind. An alternative. I tried to pull it to the forefront, but somehow I just… couldn't. Frowning in concentration, I focused all my energy on it and it suddenly burst into being. Bella's neck was snapped with a sickening crack by my sister's beautiful white hands; she was unquestionably dead. Yet I could still see, in the corner of my eye, the pair of immortals shining in the sun.

_Still there, _I thought to Edward. _I can't get rid of it. Like Jazz, like our family. Those visions never faded until they became truth._ Then I remembered something else. _Our family… Edward, do you remember what I saw? The blurred girl?_

It had been a mystery for the last half century. When I had first seen the Cullen family, I had seen Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett and Edward, but I had also seen someone else. A girl whose features would never solidify into anything I could see. I never heard her voice, never saw her face. She was like a ghost or a dream figure. The only thing I had been able to deduce was that she was close to Edward.

I hadn't thought much of her once I'd found out that she didn't exist, never bothering to mention her. I hadn't even told Jasper about her when we were trying to find the Cullens, because I wasn't sure what she was. Only Edward knew exactly what I had seen, and I had promised not to tell anyone. After all, I could see the teasing that would inevitably take place if I did let it slip. _"Edward's in love with a ghost?" "Guess he can't get a real girl," "Poor Eddie's only got a fantasy mate," "Phantom lover,"…_ The list went on. Even Edward himself had scoffed.

As we weren't speaking aloud, no one else understood what was happening when I said "Edward, I need to talk to you alone."

"Alice-" Carlisle and Jasper said at the same time, but I interrupted.

"I'll tell you later. Probably. Don't ask me, Jazz, it's not my secret." And with that cryptic message, my brother and I, the freaks among freaks, swept back out into the creeping night.

As soon as we were out of earshot, I stopped and pulled the second vision I had ever had into my mind's eye.

It was a scene in a living room; I couldn't be sure which of our many houses it was. Carlisle and Esme were sitting in a white loveseat; he was reading a huge book, probably some dry medical tome, and she was simply curled up against him with her head on his shoulder and her eyes closed, perfectly content. Rosalie and Emmett were supposedly watching TV, something I hadn't understood when I first had the vision, but were really far more engaged in each other. Edward was at his piano, playing a song I recognised now as one he had composed only days ago. A lullaby.

"Bella's lullaby," he whispered, watching with me.

The Edward in my vision looked up from his playing and smiled at the girl leaning over the piano. For a second she was still the blurred figure from my memories, but then the future took over and for the first time, my vision of our family was complete. Suddenly Jasper and I were there too, just sitting together on the cream sofa, and the blurred girl clarified and solidified into Bella.

_I couldn't see her because she hadn't been born. Neither had Renée or Charlie for that matter. _I marvelled at the way destiny had shaped Bella's life before even her parents existed.

"Doesn't Bella get any choice in the matter?" Edward asked, and his voice was quiet but hard.

"Of course she does! It just so happens that we already know what she'll choose." It was a bit of a no-brainer, if you asked me. Stay human, risk your life every second you're with him, grow old and eventually die, or become immortal.

Edward moaned softly, and dropped his head into his hands. "It's a death sentence, for no crime at all."

I sighed. Everyone knew what Edward thought about becoming an immortal. The loss of a soul. There was no point arguing with him about it. It didn't stop me worrying about the extremity of his reaction to the idea of Bella changing. I could only hope Bella would convince him that he was wrong.

"I'm only going to say one more thing, Edward." I paused, not sure how to phrase it, then gave up and thought the words to him. _If you don't let Carlisle change her, it's still going to happen. Someone else will do it, and I don't know who. Why put her through more pain? Why not let it happen with your blessing?_

He didn't react.

Breaking a long standing unwritten rule, I hugged him gently before taking my brother's hand. "Come on. Let's hunt."

When we had returned in the early hours of this morning, we explained what I had seen to Carlisle, Esme and Jasper. Rosalie listened for a while, then left, whether out of boredom or stronger feelings I didn't know. Emmett, of course, followed her. Eventually Esme, Jasper and I left Edward and Carlisle alone to talk, and my mother and I retreated upstairs to my room.

Finally, I let out the excitement that had been building all evening. "Esme! I'm getting a new sister!" I trilled.

Esme laughed with me. "And Edward will finally find a mate!"

We hugged, and I was practically bouncing.

Suddenly, though, she froze with fear. "But her scent… Alice, what if something goes wrong tomorrow? What if he can't resist?"

Her pessimistic questions failed to calm my enthusiasm. "I'll be watching the entire time. In fact, I'm going to go watch now."

I didn't actually physically move anywhere, but mentally I was sprinting through time, back and forth, seeing certainties, possibilities, alternatives, options. I flitted from future to future, bursts of colours, images, words filling my head one after another, after another, after another, simultaneously, side by side, through layers, intermixed, separate. Sometimes I lived more in the future than the present. The sensation was like escapism, but at the same time utterly relevant to the present moment. Time was my realm, and I belonged anywhen.


	4. Chapter 3

I jolted out of my reverie, back to the living room, and realised I had spent far too long with my memories. It was an occupational hazard of having perfect recall. So long spent seeing the past, what had I missed in the present, in the future?

At some point Esme had got up, and was now in the kitchen, cleaning the already spotless granite surface until they shined. Esme was so houseproud, despite the fact that it was only ever our family who saw our home. Once a decade or so the Denalis would visit and we would visit them, but otherwise only the seven of us ever saw Esme's hard work.

An idea sparked and I sensed the future change abruptly. Tomorrow's future, specifically. Good, Edward would agree.

"Esme?" I called. She turned to the door, curiosity and fear together in her eyes. "Don't worry, nothing's happened. I was just thinking, could we invite Bella round tomorrow?"

Of course, I already knew her answer.

"Oh, that would be lovely!" she said, glowing at the suggestion. "I'll arrange it with the others later; we'll all need to hunt, and I must dust the piano again…"

I stopped paying attention as my mother planned all the preparations for the first visitor in the two years since we'd been here. Instead, I focused back on Bella and Edward. They were nearly at the meadow now. Carefully, I matched the image to my won knowledge of the surrounding forest, so I could make my way there in a hurry if needs be. I'd be arriving from a different direction to Bella and Edward, so I couldn't just follow their scents, and I'd never been there before. To my relief, I realised I recognised that particular pine tree, so I knew where they were.

I was curious to see what the meadow would look like in an ordinary vision. When I had looked for them last night, I had been focussing so much on the pair of them that their surroundings hadn't really registered, so I had only ever seen it in my vision of Bella and Edward yesterday afternoon.

Suddenly the sun burst through the persistent clouds. I pulled myself back to the present just in time to see the dazzling light pour through the southern wall of glass and hit my skin.

When I had first woken up as a vampire, I had been totally unaware that the sparkling of sunlight on my skin was anything but normal. That was another situation where my sight had saved me – if I hadn't foreseen the human reaction when I stepped out into the sun that I would have gone right ahead and done it.

The human reaction- how would Bella react?

The unlikely pair was only a hundred yards or so from the meadow and Bella was beginning to pull ahead. Edward let her lead him into a place that only he had ever seen. Well, in real life, anyway.

I saw Bella's eyes widen in awe as she took in the beauty of the meadow. I refocused, trying to ignore Bella and instead see where she was standing. No matter how I strained, though, I couldn't achieve the crystal clarity I had seen yesterday. The vibrant wildflowers seemed more pastel, the grass not as verdant, and the sunlight was not quite the perfect shade of warm, buttery yellow.

It was still beautiful and it still looked like Bella belonged there. She waded through the knee-high grass, for once looking almost graceful. Her chocolate eyes darted from the protective ring of trees to the watery blue sky, pupils contracting against the rare sunlight and then she turned her head to look for Edward. When she didn't see him directly behind her, her eyes widened in fear. I wondered what she was afraid of- not being able to find her way back? Maybe she thought she had imagined him, and this was just a dream that was about to turn sour. Whatever the reason, she whirled round and caught sight of my brother, still in the shade at the periphery of the meadow.

She smiled in relief and expectation, and took two slow steps toward him, her hand raised as she beckoned him forward. He stopped her with a palm held up in warning; she paused, her eyes alight. There was a long moment of anticipation and I wondered if Edward, too, was thinking of my vision. He took a deep, unnecessary breath and with his eyes fixed on hers, took a single step forward. He froze.

The sunlight shattered off his skin, dancing into rainbows of eight colours. (I found it incomprehensible that humans could only see seven. How much else did they miss?) The splintered rays reflected off the flowers, throwing back brighter colours. It was as though the presence of a vampire inspired the plants to try to match his beauty.

Bella gasped and Edward tensed, but it was a gasp of wonderment and awe, not fear. I smirked, glad I had removed the buttons from Edward's shirt that morning. I had to admit it hadn't done anything for Bella's self-esteem, but really, nothing would cure that until she was as beautiful as him. Privately, I thought she would turn out far more good looking, but I decided not to voice that opinion aloud. I wasn't sure if Edward had heard it in my thoughts, though.

Bella took a step forward, marvelling at the sight of him. Edward seemed to be blatantly surprised that she didn't scream and run from him. Idiot.

Almost as though they were dancing a pavane, they walked slowly towards each other; his eyes were still wary, hers filled with awe. They stopped around two feet away from each other, staring at each other's faces, measuring their reactions, reading each other like a book they couldn't bear to put down. I wondered if they realised that they were both leaning into each other, just by a fraction. I wondered if they even knew how much they obviously wanted each other.

For a minute they just gazed at each other, then Edward reached his hand out: an invitation. In answer, she placed her soft, creamy hand into his hard, sparkling palm, and their fingers twined together.

Mesmerised, I watched as my brother pulled the human girl back to the centre of the meadow and sat down sinuously; she copied him with jerky, clumsy movements. Slowly, carefully, he disengaged their fingers, lay back in the grass, and closed his eyes. Bella remained sitting, still staring at him. She curled her knees up to her chest, clutching them against her torso, and gazed at him- his hands, his arms, his exposed chest, but always her eyes flickered back to his face.

Touching, maybe, but this could get tedious. I fast forwarded a while: nothing and more nothing. Why couldn't they hurry up and make the decision to move already? Or even speak? I hadn't been intending to actually listen in, or at least not much, but…

I gave up watching for the moment, though I kept the scene playing in the corner of my mind, just in case. Instead I turned my attention to my family, intending to help Esme prepare for Bella's visit. As I got up to find her (well, maybe find was the wrong verb – of course I knew she was still in the kitchen), I heard Rosalie talking to our mother. I was vaguely surprised that Rose had left Emmett alone, no matter how short the interlude was, so I sauntered into the kitchen to join the conversation.

Rosalie was across the kitchen from Esme, looking defensive with her arms folded across her chest and a face like thunder. Esme's expression was appeasing, and I could guess why Rose had interrupted her day's plans. Then again, guessing wasn't exactly necessary right now. Rosalie was being quite vocal about her feelings.

"I will _not_ hang around tomorrow and pretend to be nice to a girl I don't even like for Edward's benefit!"

"Rose…"

"Don't 'Rose' me! Why can't anyone else see how dangerous this is?"

"There's no danger from-"

"No? What if she blabs, Esme? _He_can't read her mind so how do we know?"

"Because I _can_see her, Rose," I interrupted. "Trust me, she won't tell a soul. And who would believe her if she did?"

"If word got back to the Volturi-"

"Honestly, Rose," I said. "How on earth would the Volturi hear of her? Even Kate and Irina wouldn't report us for this. Plus, she'll become one of us in the next couple of years – problem solved!"

"And what if not all of us want that to happen, Alice?" she snarled.

I sighed. "What is your problem with her, Rose? She seems nice enough to me."

Rosalie snorted. "Yeah, like Edward hasn't told you exactly what I think." There was a glint of embarrassment in her expression, igniting my inherent curiosity.

I shook my head. "He hasn't, actually. Well not everything. He only said you thought it was dangerous for us and her."

She looked ashamed for a split second – what was she holding back? – and then recovered. "Yeah, that's another thing. You're so sure we'll change her into a vampire, but has anyone actually asked her whether she wants to be condemned to death?"

I smiled slightly at the irony. "You sound like Edward. And I'm saying to you what I said to him: of course she gets a choice, we just know what she'll choose."

Rosalie's face didn't soften. "Then is it any wonder I don't like her? What sort of a sick person would choose this?"

"Over what?" I asked. "Growing old while Edward stays seventeen forever? Never able to properly kiss him in case he kills her? Rosalie, he'll always love her, and I'm relatively sure she'll always love him." My voice grew quieter, trying to soothe her. "She'll be childless no matter which option she takes." I knew that was her main argument on this front.

Sure enough, my sister huffed. "Relatively sure," she muttered.

I rolled my eyes. "But if I'm wrong she won't have to make the choice at all, will she?" I countered.

Rosalie was about to retort when Esme intervened. "Girls, can I ask you to please postpone this argument until _after _we know what's going on?" She looked pointedly at me as she spoke.

"Okay, okay, I get the hint," I said. "I'll go watch." I knew nothing much was happening, but it was preferable to arguing with Rose.

Rosalie had to have the last word. "I still won't be round tomorrow if _she _is."

Ignoring her, I looked for Bella and Edward, leaning against the kitchen counter. I was faintly aware of Rosalie storming out of the kitchen, but most of me was focused on Bella, who had (finally) taken the decision to move, and was just about to reach out for Edward's hand, running her fingers over the marble surface. Edward's eyes flicked open in surprise; he couldn't believe she was so comfortable touching him. Bella was so unusually comfortable around us. Her survival instincts should be screaming at her to run, and here she was stroking her predator's skin!

Edward flipped his hand over so she could see his palm. Too fast! I mentally chided him, and sure enough, Bella froze. His eyes flew open, and I could read the apology on his lips. Despite the momentary fear, Bella was soon running her fingers over Edward's arm, tracing the dried-out veins. It felt so intimate, and I reflected that they most probably could be no more intimate than this. It would be far too difficult for him to kiss her whilst she was human.

It hardly occurred to me that if the moment was intimate, I shouldn't be watching. For one thing, I had to be aware every moment. If the feeling of her skin against his became too much, I had to act quickly.

With that thought, I skimmed through the next twenty minutes or so, a bit like speed-reading. Hmm, more touching Edward's hand – cute – , short conversation, something changes further back, maybe five minutes away, conversation earlier, Edward sits up to see her face, Bella leans in… oh no.

"Esme!" I screamed, before realising that she was still only two metres away from me in the kitchen. I vaguely registered her blank look of fear before I was pelting out of the house, yelling over my shoulder.

"I saw it earlier, shouldn't be anything more than an alarming moment, not worth leaving it to chance!" By this stage I was out of earshot so I focused on running. I had around three and a quarter minutes to get there, so it should be fine, but if either of them decided to speak sooner, it mightn't end well.


	5. Chapter 4

I had seen this earlier, Edward's display of his superhuman speed and strength, but carelessly I hadn't looked for what led to the moment. I cursed myself for not checking as I darted through the forest, the dappled light giving my skin an unearthly green glow. I couldn't look properly while going at this speed, now was not the time to run into a tree, so I relied on the memory of my vision, going over it again. Had I missed anything? Bella leans towards Edward, and all I see is his face twist in pain before the image freezes and fades. Edward hadn't yet decided how to react to such a situation, and neither option was strong enough to rule out the other. Brilliant- she had a fifty-fifty chance of death. The only reason I had seen the few minutes after that moment was that Edward was so determined to keep her alive. That determination, however, was not enough to determine the outcome of Bella's rash movement.

I was only half a mile out from Edward's clearing now, so I stopped and flung myself into the future. It was only forty three seconds away now, or thereabouts. I couldn't be entirely sure; I had to rely on nebulous instinct to guess at the timing. I replayed the vision frantically, shouting Edward's name in my head at the same time. He said he could hear minds within a mile's radius, and he was more attuned to me than most, so he should hear me now. Unless he was concentrating too hard on Bella.

Suddenly unsure, I made my way closer, limiting the distance to a quarter of a mile. Still watching, I couldn't tell if Edward had heard me. I mentally screamed at him again, and then panicked as my forty three seconds became five. I darted right to the perimeter of the meadow just in time to see Bella's eyes flutter shut as she leaned towards her vampire love.

_Get out of there! _I silently begged him.

Abruptly caught and absorbed in the future, I gasped inaudibly as I saw him reach forward and fasten his lips to her throat. _No!_

Contrarily, it was this vision that saved her life. Edward saw the picture as clearly as me, his face contorted in horror at my thoughts, and suddenly he had ripped his hand from hers and was standing directly across the meadow from me.

In the same instant, the future suddenly shifted back to my visions of this morning and I sighed in relief. Edward, however, was still struggling.

_Edward? _I asked at the same time that Bella said, "I'm… sorry… Edward." Poor girl. I could see her profile and she looked distraught as the realisation of what proximity could do settled in. She also seemed disappointed, at herself, I thought. Maybe she thought she should have been more careful.

"Give me a moment," Edward said to both of us.

There was a long pause before he regained control and walked slowly, controlled, back towards her. Not wanting to push himself too far, he stopped a couple of yards away from her. He sat, cross-legged, looking much like a schoolboy who's done something wrong.

"I am so very sorry." He smiled apologetically. "Would you understand what I meant if I said I was only human?"

I smiled at him reassuringly, but Bella was only able to nod jerkily, and I could smell the adrenaline racing round her body. Finally, some survival instincts!

He heard me think that. "I'm the world's best predator, aren't I?" he said, mockingly.

_Edward, _I thought warningly.

It didn't stop him. I think he wanted her to be aware of the danger she placed herself in. I knew he also wanted to prove to me that this could not go on. So ill-matched, it just couldn't happen.

_But she loves you! _I exclaimed. He raised one eyebrow a fraction of a millimetre. Bella would never notice, but I could see his reply.

He was saying "Really?" I sighed in exasperation.

"Everything about me invites you in."

_Oh stop it, Edward, she didn't go for your looks. Well, I don't think so. Well, not much, _I thought.

"My voice, my face, even my smell!"

_Ironic, that, _I thought cheekily. _Maybe she's a vampire already. Love at first smell._

Edward's eyes grew serious, despite my teasing. "As if I need any of that."

He leapt to his feet and circled the meadow at full speed. I could feel the air brush against my face, disturbed by his passing. The light shining from his skin reflected off every angle of Bella's silent form, highlighting the red in her hair.

"As if you could outrun me."

I heard the double meaning. Edward was faster than me; if he ran off with her to kill her, I couldn't catch him

Then he tore a branch off a spruce tree, easily two feet in diameter, and hurled it against a thick, solid pine. The branch splintered and shattered, and the tree quivered as if in fear.

"As if you could fight me off."

_Show off, _I muttered. _Anyway, Edward, think of your poor girlfriend. She's sitting there petrified out her mind! And of course she loves you, she's still here._

Both of us looked at Bella, who was still completely unaware of my presence. Her breathing had sped up, as had her heartbeat, and I could see slight shivers shaking off her skin.

"Don't be afraid," Edward murmured softly, and her shaking slowed and stopped.

"I promise…" he began.

_Not the best word,_ I interjected. _You also promised to stay away from her._

He frowned. "I swear not to hurt you."

"Don't be afraid," he repeated. I expected Bella to lean back as he advanced, even just slightly, but she stayed completely still.

"Please forgive me. I can control myself. You caught me off guard. But I'm on my best behaviour now."

Still Bella remained silent and unmoving.

"I'm not thirsty today, honestly."

He closed one eye in a jaunty wink. I grimaced, but Bella laughed. She still sounded terrified out her wits, but still, she laughed.

Edward relaxed slightly. He was so attuned to her moods. "Are you alright?" he asked softly. Lovingly.

Gently, he lifted his hand and placed it back in her grasp. There was a short pause where both Edward and I held our breath, then Bella carefully resumed running her fingers over his skin. The smile that grew on Edward's face was one I had never seen before. He was radiant in his happiness. His joy filled him entirely, and shone out of every pore of his sparkling skin. Bella glanced up, with a timid smile of her own, and had to blink at his brilliance.

I smiled in harmony with the pair of them. _I'll go now, _I told Edward. I knew he'd be fine after this. Not that I was going to give up watching, of course. I could have explained that by saying there was still a faint possibility, that it would be lax not to, but in reality it was pure curiosity and excitement now.

Edward didn't respond to the buzz of my thoughts, so I guessed that he was fine with that and left.

I ran slower now, not needing to hurry. Esme would need to know what had nearly happened, though, so I couldn't exactly dawdle. I laughed to myself; how cliché, a mother telling her daughter off for dawdling. I doubted you could find less clichéd circumstances, though.

Sure enough, Esme was standing at the top of the porch stairs, waiting anxiously for my return. When I came into view she dashed down the stairs and caught me by the shoulders.

"What happened?" she asked frantically. "Is she alright? Is he?"

"Mom, it's fine, calm down. Nothing happened." We 'children' rarely called Esme mom, generally only when we had done something wrong or to get her to relax. Like the time Emmett and Jasper had been fighting and had accidently destroyed her Louis XIV dining room table. Boy, had Jasper been working overtime then.

It worked now. She let out a shaky breath. "So why did you go dashing off like that? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

I raised an eyebrow.

"It's a figure of speech, young lady. Now tell me what happened."

It's always a bad sign when Esme calls someone a young lady/man. I launched into a description of Bella's tiny mistake and Edward's reaction. I conveniently left out my teasing and downplayed how close it had been, while hamming up how she had forgiven him and Edward's smile. Esme's soft features visibly relaxed in relief, and I could see how happy she was for them. So I was suitably surprised (well, as surprised as I ever could be) when her fingers tightened on my shoulders and she glared at me.

"Alice Cullen! Do not scare me like that again! Next time you will check in good time to tell me exactly what is going on _before_ you go and run off to prevent it. Do you understand me?"

"Mom-"

"Don't 'mom' me. Do you understand me?!"

"Yes, Esme." Not the best time to elaborate on the limitations of my imperfect visions, I surmised.

"Good. Now get back inside and watch!"

I took the hint, flitting inside and curling up on the loveseat again. Rosalie had retreated back upstairs with Emmett, for which I was grateful. I wasn't in the mood to argue with Rose right now; I'd much rather focus on Edward. Like the teenage girl that I (probably) was (I'd never been sure of my age; I could have been anything from 12 to 23), I wanted the gossip of the latest love scandal.


	6. Chapter 5

Esme's footsteps were echoing on the porch steps, so I hastily shunted my consciousness a few miles into the forest. Had anything changed over the last 3 minutes?

Hmm, not much going on. Bit of a chat. Not wanting to waste energy adding sound to the vision (and scared to withdraw from it and face Esme's wrath), I settled for reading their lips, something I had grown very adept at over the last fifty years.

"Yes, you are exactly my brand of heroin," Edward smiled. Pretty good analogy, that. Not entirely accurate though. A heroin addict could be near the drug and be affected just the same as when they were miles away. Proximity wasn't an issue, unlike Edward's addiction to Bella. And generally, to be addicted to something, you have to try it first. Still, never mind that. We could argue about better analogies later.

I cycled through a few minutes of Edward explaining his feelings to her. I had no problem lip-reading at speed, like the way vampires could speak quickly enough not to be comprehensible to human ears. Much like earlier, this was cute, but I already knew everything he was telling her. Of course, Edward thought the rest of his family didn't realise the extent of his feelings, or else were overestimating him, but between us Esme and I had pretty much analysed everything that might be going through his head at any given time.

Bella was making a joke now, covering up her throat. A bad joke, but you had to give the girl credit for trying. As if covering her throat would ever help. It did, however, help Edward lighten up, and he smiled.

"It was more the surprise than anything else," he said. I smirked slightly; Edward, like me, was never surprised. He could see a person's intentions clearly in their minds, usually. Bella, on the other hand, persisted in being very _un_usual and surprising.

Just as I was thinking that Bella was possibly the most surprising person I knew (and I hadn't spoken a single word to her yet), Edward jumped up the league table and set a new world record in the world surprising competition.

"Be very still," I saw him say. And then he took her face in his hands.

It would have been so easy for him to wrench her chin to the side and expose her throat. I froze in horror – I should have stayed, what on earth was he doing? – and then he bent his head slowly forward. His nose glided down her throat as he took a deep breath – how that must burn! – and he rested his cheek against the juncture where her throat met her chest. I tried to relax, now seeing his intentions, but it didn't really work. Where was Jasper when you needed him? My mind's eye was fixed on Edward's hands as they gently traversed Bella's jaw, his fingertips brushing her thick mahogany hair. As his palms slide softly over the almost translucent skin of her neck, Bella shuddered involuntarily, Edward stopped breathing for a second and I tensed again. Yet his hands never faltered as they continued smoothly stroking her throat, meeting her blouse and caressing her shoulders.

Even though I now knew she was in no danger, I could not tear my gaze from them. Edward's hands finally halted at the tops of her arms. His head drifted gracefully to the side in a wintry caress, and he pressed his ear to her breast with less force than a snowflake.

I watched in amazement as my brother continued to hold the human girl close to him, tempting himself with the sound of her heartbeat, tormenting the monster he claimed to be with the heat from her skin. They sat like that for around ten minutes without speaking, or moving an inch, and I sat with them, watching the sunlight dancing in their hair, seeing the blush slowly fade from her cheeks, looking at her pulse as it thudded beneath her jaw, gradually slowing. Most of all, though, I watched their faces. Bella's eyes revealed so much that I could barely imagine not knowing her thoughts could be much of a problem. I saw in them shock, happiness, excitement, desire, and of course love, and I didn't even know her!

Edward's eyes betrayed the battle he was fighting. The thirst raged against the love he felt for her, but the more violent urge was conquered and defeated. Peace grew in his golden eyes, and when he finally released her, there wasn't a trace of temptation in his gaze.

Each of the pair saw their expression on the other's face, and I wondered if they realised that. They exchanged a few words before Edward took Bella's left hand in his and held it to his face. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Was she reacting to his temperature, or just to him?

"Don't move," she whispered. He froze obediently in place and his eyes flickered shut.

Just as she had done to his hand earlier, she began to trace her fingers over the contours of his face. Her palm stroked his cheek with movements just as careful and unhurried as his. Her fingertips teased each hair of his eyebrows before sliding down to his lavender eyelids and skimming his long bronze lashes. Her thumb brushed the darkened hollow under his eye, tracing from his nose to the slight crease at the corner of his eye. Never leaving his skin, her fingers travelled to the bridge of his nose and glided slowly down the length of it.

Edward continued to breathe evenly until her skin grazed against his lips. As her soft caress reached his mouth, he let his breath out in a gasp at the sensation. Bella shivered slightly as the cool air whooshed over her skin, and she dropped her hand hastily, afraid she had gone too far. I was sure it was not thirst that plagued him now.

As soon as their physical connection was lost, Edward's eyes snapped open and I saw that I was right. It was almost unsettling to see such raw desire inscribed in the eyes of my brother. Then again, I did live with Emmett and Rosalie, so I was kind of used to it. Still, I finally got the feeling I was intruding, so I withdrew from the meadow and focused my eyes on the living room once again.

I became aware of an arm round my shoulders and turned to see Jasper sat next to me on the sofa. I must have been deeply engrossed in my vision not to notice him returning.

"How long have you been there?" I asked.

"Only ten minutes."

He smiled and bent to press a kiss on my lips. I pulled back after a few seconds.

"Please tell me you're not channelling Rose and Emmett," I giggled.

He grimaced as though I'd offended him. "And what would be the problem with that?" he asked, leaning down to nuzzle my neck. I felt my body respond to his touch, but I suspected his gift had something to do with it.

I squirmed away from him. "Stop it!" I scolded him. "I'm supposed to be on guard for Edward!"

He sighed and pulled back slightly. "Fair enough," he conceded and a feeling of calm swept over me. "Anyway, Em and Rose have gone to Seattle for yet another romantic break. They said they'd be back in a couple of days, but I wouldn't be surprised if we only saw them five minutes before school after spring break."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned up tomorrow evening," I huffed. Jazz looked at me questioningly. "Bella's coming round tomorrow and Rosalie's in protest."

Some of Jazz's anxiety leaked out to me. He didn't bother keeping such a tight rein on the emotions he felt when it was just me and him.

I reached up to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't worry. If you can handle a couple of hundred humans at school every day, on your own in Politics class every afternoon, you can handle one who Edward will be protecting with Carlisle, Esme and me around to help. You'll be fine."

He smiled, reassured.

"Is Carlisle home yet?" I asked.

"No, it's only half five. He's on 'til six tonight."

"And is Esme around?"

I could have used my sight to find out all my answers but I didn't want to lose a second of time with Jazz in moments like this. It was vaguely irrational since we had all of eternity, but sometimes the future was overrated. At times like these I was perfectly content to live in the here and now.

"Esme is currently dusting Carlisle's study," Jazz answered. "I had been wondering why she was quite so intent on her cleaning."

"Oh, by the way, Edward and Bella aren't actually aware that she's coming tomorrow. But they'll agree," I added with certainty.

"Well I'm not betting against you," he grinned.

I laughed. "And how much is Emmett losing to you today over whether Edward will bring Bella home?"

Edward hadn't been happy about that particular bet when he found out about it today. Luckily for my husband, he had only found out after Jazz had left this morning.

"Figures that even you won't be able to spend on a single pair of shoes. So are you going to help me out and watch them?"

"Anything for you and half a pair of shoes," I smiled sweetly.

Without giving him a chance to comment further on my shopping habits, my eyes unfocused and began to see a very similar scene. Here and there, a man holding his love against him, sparkling in the sun.


	7. Chapter 6

Bella's head rested against Edward's bare chest where his shirt had fallen open slightly. I wondered that her ear hadn't got frostbite yet. Her thick wavy hair cascaded over her shoulders and brushed against his stone torso. His arms were wrapped around her shoulders, encircling her in a dazzling halo of sparkling skin, and he had laid his cheek on the top of her head. Their hair, his bronze and hers mahogany, clashed spectacularly. A small part of me wondered whether I could persuade Edward to dye his hair, but I knew he'd refuse. Not that he was vain, but he wouldn't see the point. Maybe Bella would let me… I pushed that to the back of my mind to deal with later.

Edward's control astounded me. I remembered how he had looked on the day he first met Bella Swan. He had dived into the car, gasping as though he had been drowning – and actually needed the air. The look on his face had scared me then: he looked so panicked and desperate. Desperate to get away, to escape her.

And look at him now! He had his nose pressed into her hair as though her scent didn't even affect him, and he was clinging to her like he never wanted to let her go.

I watched them like that for a while, my own head leaning on Jasper's shoulder. The four of us were utterly content, and it was a moment like a jewel in the necklace of life, unequivocally special, never to be repeated in exactly the same way.

My family often accused me of having far too much energy (not literally, of course, since a vampire can never grow tired), never stopping for a quiet, calm moment. I blamed it on my gift; I was always eager to arrive at the next event and, since I knew what was coming, I couldn't just wait for it. I ran and grabbed it with both hands and began looking forward to the next moment. There was no opportunity to just _be_, because that was in the present tense and I did not live in the present. Even when I wasn't specifically looking for something, visions would pester me constantly, and I could sort of feel it when the future changed at all. All in all, it wasn't conducive to living happily in the present moment.

I did wonder if it had anything to do with my forgotten past. Whether my initial childlike innocence and enthusiasm had worked its way into my personality. Vampires rarely experienced a real change, so the way I had seen the world for the first time had had a huge part in shaping my character for the rest of eternity. I had been a child then, and so I was a child now. The only tame immortal child.

This was a rare moment where I was content to simply sit and watch, revelling in the love-filled scene and in the sensation of Jasper's arms holding me close to him.

But all things must come to an end, and soon I saw Bella's shoulders heave with a sigh; I felt my own lungs deflate in sympathy. The day was ending, and soon I would begin my perpetual race to reach tomorrow.

_Later, I would think: this was the end? Yeah, and I'm a werewolf._

I blinked, and brought myself back to Jasper. He smiled as I shifted. "Have I won, then?"

"Pretty much done and dusted," I answered. "They're just about to head back to her truck."

Jazz grinned in triumph, just as Esme came downstairs. Of course she'd heard that.

"Are they both fine?" she asked.

"More than fine," I smirked. "Absolutely in love. Edward's such an idiot, he should have spoken to her ages ago, and to hell with what he thought was right."

Esme frowned at my choice of language and my less-than-complimentary evaluation of my brother's intelligence, but Jasper laughed.

"Edward's so concerned with what's right, I'm starting to worry he'll begin refusing to turn left at a crossroads!"

I giggled too, until I felt a twinge from my sixth sense. I probed it gently, and could sense a connection to Edward. What now?"

"Hang on a sec," I said to my mother and husband, and slipped away, isolating the source of the twinge, tuning into it like a radio. A picture blossomed in my head.

Edward was running through the forest, the dappled sunlight throwing odd jade beams from his skin. He ran at his full speed, faster than the rest of us, and on his back was Bella. I felt like laughing aloud at the look on her face; her brown eyes were as wide as saucers, her lips clenched tightly together, and her complexion, always so pale, was whitening further and further until she could have passed for a plain vampire wearing contacts. Edward, on the other hand, was elated; he found speed exhilarating and Bella delightful, so careering through the forest with her body so close to his must be pretty enjoyable.

I was about to pull out of the vision and relay it to Esme and Jazz when another decision was made, and another twinge touched me. I darted forwards a few minutes, a few miles.

_Edward and Bella, by that rusty monstrosity of a vehicle, her sitting on the cushioning ferns, him kneeling before her. Edward pauses to check his control, then leans forward and touches his lips to hers. Then black._

I knew why the vision had cut off: Bella didn't know what he was planning and therefore hadn't decided how to react.

Well, if her reaction was anything like mine, she'd be in trouble.

"Oh. My. GOD!" I shrieked.

Esme visibly flinched at my sudden exclamation and Jasper immediately started trying to calm me down, but so far he was failing miserably.

"What happened?" Esme cried, tensed to run, but I grabbed her hands and was spinning her round the living room, laughing in utter delight.

"Alice!"

She tried to disengage her hands so I let her go and pulled Jazz into a crazy, whirling dance instead as Esme staggered back.

"Alice Whitlock Cullen!"

Even the use of my full name failed to stop me. My whoops of celebration grew in volume.

"If you don't calm down this minute, you will not be shopping for a month and you won't be round to meet Bella tomorrow!"

That stopped me. I froze mid-whirl and Jasper collapsed in an ungainly heap on the floor. Within a tenth of a second, I was sitting on the sofa, my hands demurely folded in my lap. I couldn't quite stop my excited bouncing though, and the world vibrated before my eyes as I fought for composure.

Esme glared at me. "Now. What happened?"

"Nothing yet," I answered immediately. The look on my mother's face prompted me to hastily continue. "I'm not even entirely sure it will happen, he might change his mind. Plus, she doesn't know how to react – yet – so I can't see exactly, but he—" I stopped.

"Alice—" Esme began in a warning tone, but I ignored her for a second. I darted forward a few hours, until Edward got back, and checked her reaction if I told her first, or if I left it to him. After all, it was his relationship.

It only took a moment and then I shook my head at Esme. "I'm not saying. It's Edward's secret."

Esme looked about to protest, but Jazz felt my certainty and determination and sighed.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to watch this properly." With that, I left them again and rejoined Edward and Bella.


	8. Chapter 7

Bella had her head between her knees, clearly still queasy from the run. Edward was kneeling in front of her, unblinking, breathing deeply to desensitise himself as much as vampirically (well, I couldn't say humanly) possible. When he had worked up enough courage, he murmured, "Open your eyes, Bella."

Her long, thick hair fell back over her shoulders as she raised her head. Her eyelids moved slowly, gradually revealing her chocolate irises; her pupils contracted against the sudden onslaught of light. His closeness shocked her, and her chest fluttered as her breathing grew shallow. She tried to answer him sarcastically, but an idiot could see she was struggling to hold a coherent strain of thought. I smirked when she called my brother a show off – she didn't know how right she was.

"No, I was thinking there was something I wanted to try."

The smile faded from Edward's lips and I saw the doubt in his eyes. He breathed in deeply once more, slowly, slowly leaned forward, and kissed her.

I suppressed a bubble of excitement. But the bubble quickly popped.

_If her reaction was anything like mine, she'd be in trouble._

She pressed her lips to his in a sudden flurry of emotion. Her hands flew to his hair, entwining her fingers in its bronzy softness. Her eyes snapped shut and she inhaled sharply. Abruptly I realised that she had previously not been breathing at all. I was so used to being around people who didn't actually need to breathe that I hadn't registered her need for oxygen. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, her lips parted slightly and her scent, pure and unfiltered, saturated the tiny space between them.

I couldn't tear my horrified gaze away. I doubted even Edward could resist such temptation. I supposed it wasn't a bad way to go, though. Killed by a kiss. I waited for him to give in and bite her. I knew I wouldn't be able to get there in time to save her. I waited for the inevitable.

Pah! I didn't give my brother enough credit. His golden eyes flashed, but before he could even think of hurting her, he froze into a perfect statue of ice. He didn't draw away though, perhaps scared to move at all.

Bella's eyes reopened in shock at her own loss of control. "Oops," she said.

The vision dissipated as I dissolved into a fit of the giggles. I could feel that she was in no danger, so I let myself go in my absolute delight. He kissed her! Edward kissed her! My brother, alone for a century, finally had his first kiss! He kissed her!

The sound of a car turning onto the drive prevented Esme from asking the three-dozen questions she had been about to ask. While Jasper had drifted off during my inactive period, she had remained staring at me, hands on hips for all the time I'd been watching, with all the patience of an immortal. What were a few minutes when you had forever?

Unfortunately for me, Esme seemed unable to apply the principle to waiting for Edward to tell her the news, so Carlisle's return was timed perfectly. It was almost like a TV program, where a character will walk in just in time to catch a certain line; it always struck me as ridiculously contrived, but I was seriously grateful to coincidence now. I smiled in relief as Esme went to greet her husband at the front door, and made to escape. That plan was quickly put down.

"Don't you move a single inch, Alice Cullen. I need to speak to you."

I grimaced at Esme's warning and the quick vision of the consequences if I disobeyed her – no shopping for a year! – and sat back down.

Carlisle's footsteps echoed across the perch at a slow, steady pace. He hated to rush anything and rarely used his vampiric speed if he could help it. Three and a half centuries of existence had taught him patience and a desire to treasure every moment. It was a quality I knew Esme hoped I would one day gain. Privately, I highly doubted _that _would ever happen.

Carlisle swept Esme into his arms and placed a tender kiss on her lips. Most children would look away politely (or impolitely, I supposed) but not in our house. After all, none of us were children really, or at least not when it came to sex. Well, Edward was, but since he was forced to listen to our thoughts every night you could hardly count him as innocent and unsullied, and there really was no point trying to hide anything from him.

As soon as my parents broke apart, Carlisle asked, "How's Edward getting on?" No secrets in this house!

"Alice is refusing to tell me," Esme said, throwing a glare in my direction. I rearranged my face into the most innocent expression I could muster as Carlisle looked questioningly at me.

"What?" I protested. "It's Edward's date! He should tell you! I'd tell you if there was anything wrong, or if she was in danger. But there isn't and she's not, and—" I cut off and groaned as a vision hit me. "I've got to hide this from you all evening."

"Why?" they asked together.

"He's staying at hers tonight. At least until she's asleep." Ugh. I should have expected this; it's the first night he can stay with her knowledge.

My parents exchanged a glance.

"Oh, don't look like that! He's seventeen years old and in love for the first time, what do you expect?" I smirked evilly. "It's not as if they can _do_ anything."

Esme's eyes narrowed, so I wiped the expression from my face and continued. "And he won't hurt her, I'm absolutely certain of that. She's perfectly safe." For now, anyway. I changed the subject. "Carlisle, Bella's coming round tomorrow."

He smiled, predictably. "Have they actually agreed to that yet?"

They. Edward and Bella were already seen as a joint unit. I grinned back. "No. But they will."

"And what do the others think of your plans?"

My smile faded. "Rose and Em have left for the weekend."

Carlisle sighed, and moved to sit on the sofa, Esme with him.

"Can't you talk to her?" I asked him. "She's got to come round eventually. I mean, even if Edward gets his way, she'll still be around for a few decades."

He was already shaking his head. "I _have _spoken to her, and she won't relax her attitude. I think it's born out of caring for Bella, though."

I made a derisive noise in my throat.

"Alice, she's worried about Bella not getting a full human life; the reason she's angry with Edward is that he's threatening to take that away just by being close to her."

"That doesn't explain why she seems to hate Bella so much," I said.

"I asked her about that, too," Carlisle said wearily. "She didn't want to tell me everything – or at least that's the impression she left me with. Reading between the lines though, I think she is genuinely worried that Bella will reveal our existence to someone, and of course she's incredibly jealous."

I rolled my eyes. Though I could see her point, Rosalie's refusal to accept this life irritated me. She spent more time wallowing than was healthy, in my opinion. "Still doesn't explain why she doesn't hate every single human we come into contact with," I pressed. "There's got to be more to it than that."

"She'll come round," Esme said, though her voice was severely lacking in confidence.

We let the comment go, and there was silence for a few moments.

Esme broke into our contemplations. "What time can we expect Edward back?" she asked.

"Not until midnight at the earliest," I replied. "He'll want to listen to her sleep talking."

A tender smile blossomed on Esme's face. Edward had confided in her and Carlisle about Bella's nocturnal speeches after I threatened to throw out any music of his that I considered vaguely embarrassing. He had practically run to tell them then, though he hotly denied that little fact!

The first night Edward had watched Bella, I had been watching him, much as I had done today. Just in case. I knew he managed at school, but there he was making an effort to ignore her, and he knew his siblings were round to stop him. Fifth period had become a write-off for me since I spent the whole time watching Edward. My French teacher was beginning to get annoyed, though my fluency in the language helped keep her temper in check. So in one tiny room, with no other scents to distract him, and no one around to pull him away, I worried the temptation might be too much. Okay, okay, so a part of me just wanted to spy on him, but it was a small part, I swear! Well, I was a small person, so a big part of me would equate to a normal small part… wouldn't it? Well, whatever my motives, I packed Jasper off hunting (much to his distress) and settled down to watch Edward watch Bella.

That night, he slid in through her window with as little noise as possible, and left it open for a quick escape. It was quite late, but it looked like she had only just fallen asleep since her eyelids twitched continually and she shifted around her bed. Not that either of us knew much about sleep besides what Edward had learnt in medical school, and what he vaguely remembered. The covers slipped off her sleeping form and Edward, ever the gentleman, reached carefully over and draped the quilt back over her body. The gesture was so tender, even when his eyes were darkening with thirst.

I remembered grimacing as I saw the clothes she was wearing. How many holes did that t-shirt have? And by the look of those sweatpants, they were at least half as old as her.

I was distracted from my disgust at her evident lack of fashion know-how when suddenly a sound entered my vision. I started – I hadn't been trying to listen in – and then I realised what she had said.

"Edward."

For the love of Gucci, please don't let her have woken up, I prayed. Rosalie would be right, Edward would have to convince her it was a dream, and for us it would be a nightmare.

I prodded the mental image, adjusting my viewpoint, finding Bella's face, and breathed a sigh of relief which quickly turned into a squeal of delight. Bella was still asleep… and dreaming of my brother.

Esme had been overjoyed when she coaxed the details out of him. Though I'm sure the mother in her was certain no girl could resist 'her' Edward, I knew she had been worrying that now Edward had finally found love it was doomed to be unrequited. She had been so relieved when she found that her fears were unfounded, and it seemed silly that anyone had doubted it now.


	9. Chapter 8

I skipped straight from hindsight to foresight, checking to see where Bella and Edward were now. To my surprise, the vision divided; they weren't together? But then I saw why: Bella was eating dinner with her dad, Charlie. Well, I say eating, scoffing might have been a better word. I smirked at her eagerness to return to Edward, but my teasing attitude was overlaid with real affection towards my newest sister. I watched Charlie for a while, noting his comfortable demeanour and his fondness towards his daughter. I didn't know much about Charlie Swan besides his name, job and of course his relationship to Bella. Thanks to Bella, I now also knew where he lived, and that was about it. I hoped for Bella's sake that they weren't too close; it would only make it more difficult for her to change.

Whilst Bella ate, Edward explored Bella's room. He had never been in here without Bella before. Evidently he had never looked around; maybe he was afraid to wake her. Maybe he just couldn't look away from her.

The only furniture was the bed, a desk with a decrepit computer and a rocking chair, the same chair from which my brother watched Bella every night. The walls were a pale blue – a bit cold for such a small room, I thought. Esme would've chosen something different or added an accent colour. The only curtains were faded netting, yellowing with age. Charlie obviously hadn't changed anything about Bella's room for a long time. The bedspread, in contrast to the walls, was a sunny yellow like the cupboards in the kitchen below, though it too was faded. I decided that this had not been Bella's idea – she seemed to favour earthy colours, blues and greens and browns – but more likely Renée's. Charlie didn't strike me as a man to take an interest in interior design – the curtains proved that – or to fuss about the colour of his daughter's duvet. That got me wondering how much of an impact Renée would have on Bella's life in Forks, whether they kept in contact often and generally how close they were. I hoped the family wasn't as close knit as it seemed, and took comfort from the obvious age of the duvet.

The room was relatively bare, you could tell she hadn't lived here long, but there were a few personal touches here and there. A photo of Renée, I assumed, was on her desk by her computer. Renée had the same thick hair as Bella, but it was much lighter, dyed multiple times. I supposed Renée was more conventionally beautiful than Bella, with delicate blue eyes and darker skin, but if they had lived back in Edward's time, Bella's pale skin would have been prized. Edward (and I) glanced round the room, but there were no photos of Bella. I made a mental note to correct that at some point.

A bookshelf lined the wall above her bed. Every single book had obviously been read more than once, from the creases running down their spines. The books that looked the most well-loved were generally classics: Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, a large collection of Shakespeare – Bella evidently liked the old-fashioned romances. Now that was the loveliest piece of irony had ever had the good fortune to come across.

Next Edward's attention drifted to the small pile of CDs at the end of the shelf. He ran his fingers across the cases, reading the names of the artists. It was an eclectic mix, ranging from rock to a single classical CD – Debussy, I noted. I guessed Bella had packed one or two CDs from each genre to take from Phoenix. She had an open mind in other things then, not just accepting vampires.

Annoyingly, Edward declined the opportunity to search Bella's closet. Since I had never seen it before, it would be hard to look for it now, so I didn't bother trying. Anyway, I doubted Bella possessed any clothes worth my attention, judging by what she wore to school each day. Did she own any trousers other than jeans?

Anyhow, Edward turned back to the bed, and lay down on top of the covers. He buried his face in the pillow, inhaling the scent of her. For a moment, I was shocked: was he trying to torment himself? Then I realised he had fallen in love with her scent just because it was part of her.

For a vampire, the sense of smell tells us almost everything. We could probably survive blind and deaf, just by relying on our noses, though what kind of life would that be? It also provokes the most intense reactions in us: the desire to feed, obviously, but other, more pleasurable desires too. Every vampire and every human smell unique and a 'love at first smell' relationship, as I had teased Edward with earlier, was actually far more common among immortals than 'love at first sight'. Emmett and Rosalie were an exception whilst Jazz and I were half and half. He smelt me before he saw me, but of course I saw him long before I smelt him. It didn't stop me falling in love with the amazing scent he exuded as soon as it reached my nostrils. And the smell of him when he wanted me had such an intense effect…

I shivered, and drew away from the vision. Esme, curled up against Carlisle, had pulled out a notebook and was sketching the design plan of another room. I looked ahead to the finished design and saw the title in Esme's soft italic handwriting, neatly underlined: "Edward's room, Alaska". Alaska had been decided a few weeks ago as our next stop on our continual journey, and we had been planning to move early next year since Carlisle was beginning to look far too young for his supposed age. The date of the move had become sketchy now; Bella had unwittingly changed our plans.

Most of the family had different themes to their rooms in different houses – mine and Jasper's Alaskan room was a beautiful shade of lilac – but Edward's rooms were invariably black and gold. I sometimes wondered if he was reminding himself of our lifestyle with the reference to our eye colour. What for, I had no idea? Penance for his rebellious years? He had never cared to enlighten me, but maybe I was reading too much into it. Though with Edward, it was very rarely possible to read too much into anything.

The main design on Edward's new room was similar to the existing one, but the black that had contrasted with the gold was replaced here with a pale blue. I smiled in appreciation – Esme had a great eye for colour, and this palette reminded me of a sunrise, a perfect metaphor for Edward's life right now. Esme had never seen Bella's room, but it would remind Bella of home, too. The other prominent change was the addition of a large bed to the centre of the room. I wondered briefly if Edward would be upset that Esme was assuming Bella would be living with us – him – but I supposed that it was fairly innocent. She hadn't, after all, specified what the bed was for: sleeping or… not.

Drawing my mind back to my body, I looked up at Esme and beamed at her. "It's beautiful, Esme. I'm sure they'll love it."

Esme smiled with me. "I hope so," she said.

I tapped my temple. "Trust me, they will," I said lightly.

My mother laughed gently and returned to her sketching. Carlisle stroked her soft caramel hair as she worked.


	10. Chapter 9

Presently (what a ridiculous word. It means soon, really and yet has the word present in it. One of the many quirks of the English language, I concluded), presently I decided I ought to occupy myself usefully and went to carry on designing my latest dress. Fashion design was a hobby of mine and Rosalie's and though this dress hadn't got a particular purpose yet, it should come into use _sometime _in eternity.

I rose and went over to my computer in the corner of the room, folding the screen up from where it was tastefully concealed in the desk top and sliding the keyboard out from a drawer underneath. There was no mouse, since it was a touch screen format. We'd had to re-jig that system slightly, since it had originally been designed to respond to heat, rather than pressure. Edward had slaved away for hours over that thing, getting into full on geek mode. He later told me it was one of the few things that required so much concentration that he could block out Emmett's mental imaging at night. Almost. We had worked on it together for a few hours – well, I looked for blueprints of future models and he implemented the changes. As a consequence, it had a load up time of eleven point three seconds, despite the huge amounts of used RAM, instantaneous internet connectivity via a system that I really didn't understand, and a host of new – or nearly new, since they hadn't actually been released yet – software for everyone's personal interests.

I flicked the on switch and waited the usual eleven point three seconds before tapping a shortcut on the screen which brought up three corresponding windows: front design, back design and a view of the material I would need to make the dress in its entirety. I hit another button, opening a fourth window, this one a picture of a revolving 3D image of my body clad in the half-finished dress, composited from pictures and numerical measurements. It was a tool many designers would kill for. Maybe one of us could get a job designing computer software in half a decade or so, sell the program and quit. Then again, it wasn't as if we needed any extra money.

I mused over this possibility for a few minutes as I worked on the dress. It was a relatively new project, so I only had a basic outline to work with at the moment. It was black (depressing, I know, but the colour worked so well against my white skin and midnight coloured hair) and tight fitting against my tiny frame. The hem sloped in a sharp diagonal, showing off one pale leg. I toyed with the neckline for a while, trying a scoop, a V, strapless, off the shoulder, but none of them quite worked. I was not particularly curvy; oh okay then, I had no curves to speak of whatsoever. More proof that I was probably around thirteen years old.

Sighing, I gave up on the neckline. I'd do it when Rose was around. Half the fun of designing was arguing with my sister over whether or not a certain shape or colour or pattern worked, trying to convince her that this style or that style would be in fashion next season. It wasn't the same working alone. Disillusioned, I tapped the cross at the corner of the screen and closed the program.

An all too familiar conundrum reared its ugly head: what should I do now? I wondered how many times I had asked myself that in the past fifty or seventy years. There was always too much time, no sense of change, never any hurry, no deadlines. It was why I liked to pretend there _was _a rush, and why I was always eager to move on. When you were immortal, there was far too much time. Too much, and yet there was always a feeling that there could never be enough.

Killing time now, I searched the stock markets on the internet and in my head, looking for any particularly promising companies, checking the investments we currently had in place and making changes. I withdrew and reinvested a couple hundred thousand dollars, safe in the knowledge that it would multiply by three hundred in the next twenty two days.

Safe in the knowledge… that was another reason why I was so energised. There was simply no way for me to take a risk since I knew the consequences of any choices I made. Of course, vampires had no adrenaline, but there was still a craving for excitement which was why we all liked fast cars. Even Esme was fond of racing with the rest of us. I had sold my last car just before coming to Forks because it was getting boring; I really needed a new one…

My thoughts drifted, pulled by multiple strings down thousands of paths, weaving a complex symphony of words, images and mixtures of the two. Idly, I wondered how Edward coped, listening to all of this, all the time. He said human minds were less complex, but some of the brighter ones had three or four layers of thought and very rarely did any sentient creature have only one thought in their head at a time.

A tendril of thought drifted to Bella. It must be so peaceful for Edward to be around her. Infuriating, yes, but still quiet and calming.

Where were they now? Pulling that thought into focus, I looked for them and saw Bella's darkened room. Of course, the dark didn't affect the quality of my vision, whether in the future or the present. I had always loved the dark and the night, the ethereal beauty that moonlight lent everything, the purple and blue tones brought out by the absence of sunlight. Bella's hair looked mauve, darkened by the night and a shower; it curled over her pillow like seaweed.

Edward was curled around her, his chest to her back, as though they were actually sleeping together. Whichever way you wanted to interpret that. In reality, both of them were awake and whispering to each other. I made no attempt to work out what they were saying; though I did watch their faces, I never tried to read their lips. I wasn't sure why I didn't; maybe I was finally getting an idea that they might want some privacy. I saw Bella's blush, though, and Edward's shoulders shaking with gentle laughter. Curious, I watched her cheeks darken further before Edward froze, and I sighed in sympathy. I could guess what they were talking about.

Their relationship had been impossible from the start. They had got past so many boundaries just by being alone together, by touching each other, by being so close, and – unbelievably, amazingly – by kissing, but I doubted they could ever overcome this barrier. They could never become one the way Jazz and I could unless she was changed, and since he was so determined that would never happen…

How could he stand being sure that they would not be together forever? He thought they would have sixty, maybe seventy years together, but that was no time at all, at least for us. Every second he spent away from her he would detest, but every second spent with her would be a second closer to the end. How could he look to the future when it must end in death? How would he cope after she was gone? Would he even try to cope?

Still in my vision, I saw Bella let out a gentle sigh and her eyes close. I watched, fascinated, as her breathing settled into a slower, deeper rhythm and her arm moved to hug herself, conserving heat. So this was sleep. A foreign concept to me, and not an entirely pleasant one. To be so defenceless, totally unaware of where you were, it would scare me. I was never unaware of exactly what was going on.

Bella looked so young in her sleep, her face softened somehow, and so vulnerable! I guessed that last observation was a subconscious reaction; I only ever saw sleeping people when I visited Carlisle at the hospital so maybe I equated sleep with sickness on some level.

Perhaps Edward felt it too, because the look on his face was now so protective, almost possessive, and completely saturated with love. One of his arms was wrapped around her waist, the other propping his head up so he could watch her face.

Bella remained still only for another five minutes or so (which I, of course, skipped) before her lips moved, shaping illegible words. Sleep talking again. This went on for a little while, Edward's lips occasionally curving into an amused smile. Forgetting my earlier restraint, I tried to read what she was saying. Nope, couldn't get it. Never mind. I doubted it was worth 'listening' to.

The look on Edward's face dismissed _that _notion pretty quickly.

He didn't have to decide how to react to this for me to see it. Maybe he had been thinking about how this would feel before, or maybe it was just so predetermined, so inevitable, that there was no decision to be made. He would always have reacted like this.

His eyes widened and glittered like jewels, in a face that was alight with emotion. I had never seen Edward like this before; even his joy in the meadow could not compare. This was beyond mere happiness: he was almost unrecognisable, an entirely different person, transformed by love and by Bella. His lips parted to release a gasp at her mumbled words, and I was suddenly absolutely certain what she had said in her unconscious state. Edward confirmed it a second later as he regained composure, and his lips formed words that were clear as day.

"I love you too, Bella," he murmured.

She loved him. Of course I'd never doubted it, but to have indubitable confirmation, spoken without any restraint or care… it was wonderful. Amazing. And just so _right._ They were made for each other.

Beaming, I skipped through a few hours, but she didn't speak again, and my smile began to fade as the time got later and later, and Edward didn't move. When was he going to come home?

I groaned as I realised he wasn't intending to leave her at all. That was sweet, but absolutely no good for us: he had to come and tell Esme what had happened before she started torturing me, and I had to get him to bring Bella over, and we would all have to hunt after that. We needed a few hours, at the very least.

Well, if he wasn't coming home, I would have to go and get him home. As soon as Bella had told him she loved him, I decided. I wasn't heartless enough to make him miss that. But two minutes afterwards, I was so dragging him out of there.


	11. Chapter 10

There was around four minutes and forty six seconds until she said the magic words, so I went to tell Esme where I was going. After all, I didn't want her to freak out again and ban me from meeting Bella tomorrow. Or ban me from shopping. Shudder.

My mother was now cleaning Edward's room, taking advantage of his absence. Edward's room was his haven, his little piece of privacy, and he didn't like sharing it with anyone. I often wondered why he didn't install a lock, though I guessed since everyone knew not to come in, there was no point. He kept his room immaculately tidy which was seriously unnatural, in my opinion, since he was a teenage boy. Yes, yes, he was over a century old, but he was frozen at seventeen, and some elements of him would be forever seventeen. To be fair, he was acting more like a teenager now than he ever had before.

I ran up the stairs and down the hallway to the rare sight of Edward's open door. Esme was dusting her son's thousands of CDs, and was almost halfway through. I think she'd got up to the nineteen twenties, if memory served. It was an odd cataloguing system that Edward had implemented, and since he didn't need a cataloguing system at all (vampire memory, you know), it was a bit of a giveaway that Edward liked things in their proper place. Vampires were vampires, and humans were humans…

I bet they're in any old random order in under a month.

Esme glanced up. "What is it, Alice?" she asked curtly. She hadn't forgiven me yet, then.

"I'm just going to get Edward," I told her. "He's not intending to come home."

I could have laughed at the ridiculous mixture of annoyance and tenderness that she exuded. She loved the idea that Edward wanted to stay with Bella, but hated the idea that he wouldn't return to tell her exactly what had got me so hyped up earlier and every other tiny little detail of his day. The conflicting emotions battled for a moment before she sighed and nodded her head.

"He'll have to come to find out about your plans for tomorrow, I suppose. Alright, Alice, you can go. But please," she begged as I went to leave, "do it tactfully. Don't wake her up, don't say – or think – anything rude or suggestive, don't spoil his day, and—"

"Esme!" I interrupted, knowing how long this list would be. "I'm not an idiot. Or a child."

"I know, I know." Her expression softened. "I just want this to be perfect for him."

"I know," I echoed. "So do I."

We smiled, but both of us had a degree of sadness in our faces, because it wasn't perfect, and if Edward had his way, it never would be.

I lingered for a few seconds longer, then turned and went to retrieve my brother from his girlfriend's bedroom.

It was a short journey to Bella's house, and an easy one; even if I hadn't known where I was going, Edward's scent marked the way as clearly as a row of floodlights. You could tell he passed this way often from the thick layers of scent that prevented the smell from fading. If I looked closely enough, I could see where his path had flattened the moss and ferns, and branches had been snapped aside to make way. I wondered if he'd ploughed straight through them in his haste to see her, or whether he had deliberately removed them to save his clothes. It would have been pretty embarrassing to be discovered with a ripped shirt (or worse) in Bella's room.

Soon, two new scents caught my nostrils and I paused. One was faint, but unmistakably human. The other was my own. They were maybe four or five days old and I suddenly recognised the small clearing. This was where I had seen Bella deliberating over what to do about our being vampires.

I hadn't told Edward I had seen this, because I didn't want to be the one to tell him that she knew. Plus, I hadn't been entirely sure that she knew at all. I had only known that for three seconds, Bella had disappeared from Edward's future, and I had looked to the cause, seeing Bella sit here, with her head in her hands, thinking. As I said, that future only lasted for three seconds, and then it reverted back to what had actually happened, what was actually happening now, but it was enough to get me worried. I'd been in the vicinity at the time, so I'd come to check on her, check she wasn't in any danger. Edward hadn't returned from hunting, so I felt obliged to look after her for him. It made her sound like a pet cat, but that was the truth of it.

Anyway, I'd arrived here only a minute or so afterwards and was slightly surprised to see her still sitting there, with no apparent threat. I could only come to the conclusion that she herself had caused the change and not any outside factors.

But why? I had asked myself. What could have caused her to decide to leave Edward (and us)? The only answer I could come up with was the downright obvious one.

Because we were vampires.

And if I was right, that meant she knew. I hadn't known how, maybe she worked his out from him skipping blood-typing, but she knew. She knew, and the future had still reverted to her and Edward becoming closer, becoming 'an item'.

She knew, _and she didn't care._

I had been silently working this through when I realised that Edward would be home soon. I had to leave before he got back to her. Maybe he wouldn't even bother to go home first, I had thought, and a quick glance into the future had told me I was right. I had melted silently away, planning a quick hunting trip of my own to clear my mind.

It had been difficult keeping this from Edward, as my thoughts naturally reverted to Bella whenever I saw him, but I got round it by thinking in the future tense whenever I could remember to. She _will _find out, rather than she _has. _I didn't want to give him false hope by telling him that she didn't mind when it might have been an utter lie.

I cleared my mind now, knowing Edward could hear me. I didn't want to spoil his surprise, so I started running through the royal family of France from a few centuries ago until the end of the French monarchy. He'd know I was blocking him, but that didn't matter.

There was less than twenty-three seconds until Bella sleep-talked (was that the right phrase? It sounded so clumsy. Much like Bella) so I followed Edward and Bella's scents back to the house.

Their paths divided when the small brick building came into sight; Bella had gone to the door, while Edward always went to her window. I could smell their combined scents from earlier, by the front door, but I ignored that and followed Edward's customary route to the gnarled, twisted tree outside Bella's room. Slowly (well, slowly for a vampire, anyway), I ascended the tree, leaping lightly and soundlessly from branch to branch like a ghostly cat. I found a branch that could bear my weight without creaking and settled myself upon it, watching through the window.

Edward couldn't see me since he was curled around Bella, with his back to the window, but I knew he could hear me, now going through the thirteenth century. I listened too, for Bella. Then I heard a muffled, sleepy sigh and I grinned in anticipation.

"I love you, Edward."

The words, when they came, were more like a breath than speech, as gentle as a caress. Edward's answering promise of love sounded harsh in comparison, even though technically his voice was far more beautiful.

Beautiful. Pah. As far as I was concerned, beauty was an entirely different thing to looking, or sounding, good. Most people would say Rosalie was beautiful but they never looked into her eyes, I don't think. The pride, haughtiness, arrogance and pain in her eyes stopped her physical features from meaning anything in my opinion. She was pretty, but she was only beautiful when she looked at Emmett. Jasper's scars stopped him from being conventionally beautiful, but he couldn't be anything but beautiful to me. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder. I was sure Edward thought Bella was more beautiful than Esme, Rosalie and I combined.

"Quite right," he whispered.

I grinned, and hopped in the window. _You know why I'm here, Edward._

Gently, he pressed his lips to Bella's hair before drawing away, taking such care not to wake her. He unwound his arms from her waist and slipped out from under the duvet.

"Yes, I should have guessed you wouldn't leave us in peace," he muttered, now lacing his trainers up.

I gave a little mental squeak at his casual use of the plural pronoun and he smiled.

Bella murmured something completely incoherent in her sleep and both of our heads snapped round. She hadn't done that earlier, in my vision, though the disturbance of Edward leaving her might have changed things slightly. I watched her curiously, properly seeing someone asleep for the first time.

"She's not a zoo exhibit," he breathed.

_Oi! You spend enough time staring at her! _I argued.

His eyes twinkled in the darkness. "I can't argue with that."

I smirked in triumph. _Anyway, come on. Esme's waiting to interrogate you. I thought you should tell her about a certain kiss…_

We jumped out of the window, Edward pausing to stroke her hair one last time before leaving, and took off running.

"I'm so proud of you!" I squealed as soon as I was sure we wouldn't wake Bella or her dad up.

Edward winced. "Would turning down the volume kill you, Alice?" he asked.

"Nope," I replied, popping the 'p'. "But it would spoil my fun."

He groaned.

"Seriously, though, how on earth did you keep from killing her?"

His eyes closed for a second; he didn't like being reminded of his status as a vampire, and hers as the human he most desperately desired to drink from.

_Sorry. Bit tactless,_ I apologised.

It was quite normal for me to converse with Edward using both thought and speech, though an outsider would never understand what we were going on about.

"No, it's alright." There was a short pause. "And in answer to your question… I love her. I don't _want _to kill her. I'm just trying to keep up that mentality."

"You will," I said with certainty. "You'll be absolutely fine."

He smiled. "Thank you for your confidence. So tell me, please, what have you already told Esme?"

"Next to nothing," I promised, running over the day in my head. _She got a… teensy bit worried when I left to warn you about, well, you know, but I think I managed to calm her down._

"No shopping?" he asked wryly, watching the memory. "She must have been stressed. We all know what you're like when you don't get your retail therapy. And…"

I quickly thought of that new Gucci line coming out next moth and the shoes I simply had to pre-order. Unfortunately, he'd already seen Esme's other threatened punishment from later. Damn multiple layers of thought. Ugh, this wasn't how I'd wanted to tell him about tomorrow's daytrip. Would this change his mind?

"You want Bella to come round to a houseful of vampires?" he said, his voice flat and low.

_Edward! _I chastised him. "We're just as safe as you!" Safer, even.

I grimaced at my own wayward thoughts. _Sorry,_ I thought again.

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault I can hear your every thought. I know you'd never say it aloud."

"Thanks," I smiled. _But Edward, she'll be as safe with us at home as she is at school. And Esme's never seen Bella, she's desperate to meet her. As you're about to find out, _I added, getting a flash vision of Esme waiting on the porch steps.


	12. Chapter 11

We left the last of the trees at that point and we both felt the déjà vu as we saw Esme waiting for us at the top of the stairs. She positively beamed at us as we made our way over to the house and caught Edward in a hug as soon as he reached her. I grinned as he hugged her back; Bella had really changed him.

"Slow down!" he laughed, and I could imagine the rush of thoughts in our mother's head.

She must have said something in her mind because after a couple of seconds, Edward nodded and she turned to the door. I followed complacently, quite used to missing half the conversations that went on in our house.

Unsurprisingly, Carlisle and Jasper were in the living room awaiting our return. Like a bunch of fishwives, always eager for new gossip.

Edward caught my eye and winked in agreement.

Both men stared anxiously at Edward, Carlisle more subtly, until they saw the topaz colour of his eyes, with no hint of red.

"Yes, she's still alive," Edward said quietly.

Both of them looked at him apologetically, but Edward smiled. "Let's get this over with then," he said with mock weariness.

Immediately he turned to Esme, who was now sitting next to Carlisle on the sofa. "Yes," he said, in answer to an unspoken question. "Yes. Some. No. Yes. Not quite. Yes."

Unable to take any more, Jasper burst out "For God's sake, can you please speak out loud?"

"Don't blaspheme, Jasper," was Esme's automatic response. "I'm sorry," she added. "Alright then, what did she think of that?"

Jazz groaned and Carlisle and I both laughed.

"She's asking what Bella thought when I showed her… what I could do," Edward explained.

_Good thing Emmett's not here, he'd have a field day of innuendos! _I thought.

"True," Edward replied, causing Jasper to moan again.

"Oh don't you start!" he complained.

"Sorry Jazz," I giggled and went to sit next to him, snuggling against his side.

"You're forgiven," he murmured, running his hand through my hair.

"Jasper!" Edward grimaced.

"Sorry," he said, grinning at me.

"Children!" Esme admonished.

"Sorry Mom," we all three chorused.

Carlisle sighed.

"Yes, anyway, she was scared but she forgave me," Edward said, trying to get back on topic.

"Does she seriously not care that you're fighting not to kill her?" Jasper asked incredulously.

I elbowed my husband. "Tactful," I muttered.

"No, it's okay, Alice," Edward said. "And I don't think 'not caring' is the right way to describe it. She finds it… an inconvenience—"

_Like when she's kissing you, _I thought cheekily.

He ignored me entirely. "– and it does worry her, but she seems to think it's worth it."

Esme looked like she would never be able to stop smiling. "What did you tell her about the rest of us?" she asked.

"Not much," he answered. "I told her that Carlisle saved you, how you two joined us" – directed at me and Jasper – "how Rosalie found Emmett… Where are Rose and Em by the way?"

No one bothered to speak and he heard the situation four times over. I wondered how each member of the family saw Rosalie's actions. Personally, I thought it was a real shame that Rose couldn't accept Bella, and also a bit selfish. Didn't she want Edward to be happy?

Edward broke the silence. "I see," he said coldly.

"Don't be too hard on her," Esme pleaded.

He shook his head, though his face remained serious. "I know why she's doing it."

_Wish I did, _I grumbled mentally. _I really don't understand why she has such a problem with Bella. What's Bella ever done to her?_

"She's human," Edward said simply. "For Rosalie, that's everything she wants, and everything she can't have. Bella is an unwelcome reminder of her loss."

I couldn't quite quash the idea that that was not all, and the glance Edward threw at me confirmed I was right. He wouldn't tell me what, thought, so I'd have to wait to find out. Maybe Rose would tell me once Bella joined the family.

Edward stiffened, and I quickly sent him a _sorry! _in my head. Sensitive subject.

"Can you please bring her round tomorrow?" I asked, begging unashamedly. "She'll be perfectly safe." Quickly I scanned the future to check I wasn't lying and found nothing to cause any worry. "See? Look, I know you really want her to come because otherwise I wouldn't see it at all. Give in!"

Esme and I waited in excited anticipation. Carlisle, who had not spoken until now, finally persuaded him.

"Edward, Alice will be on constant alert tomorrow. And I must say, it would be nice to meet Bella outside of the emergency room."

Edward laughed and I grinned triumphantly as my visions for tomorrow abruptly became much clearer.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" I squealed, and jumped up to break into a little victory dance.

"That reminds me…" Esme said. "Could you please tell us what got Alice so excited earlier?"

Edward glanced down at me, slightly nervously. "Which particular event inspired that sort of reaction?" he asked, seeing the memory in Esme's mind.

"Oh, that was…" I finished the sentence in my head.

"Ah," he said.

Esme was growing impatient. "Well?"

"I…" he began, and then stopped. If he had been human, he would have been blushing.

"Spit it out!" Jasper exclaimed.

"Alice, you tell them," Edward said.

"No way," I refused.

He sighed. "Alright then." There was a long pause before he finally admitted it.

"I kissed her."

Silence.

Silence.

A bit more silence.

Then-

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!" Esme practically shrieked (and she complains about my vocal volume!), running over to him and nearly knocking him over in an enthusiastic hug.

Carlisle laughed heartily, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Jasper just stared with his mouth hanging open, looking like the most adorable gormless idiot that I had ever seen.

"You…"

"I thought you smelt quite strongly of her," Esme gushed. "Oh that's wonderful, you're so strong, oh my son!"

"You actually…"

"I'm incredibly proud of you, son," Carlisle said. "When are you joining me at the hospital?" he laughed.

"You…"

"Not yet," Edward smiled. "I'm quite enjoying being a teenager right now."

"You actually managed to…"

"Spit it out, Jazz!" I said after he trailed off for the umpteenth time.

Jasper still looked shell-shocked. "You actually kissed her."

"Yes," Edward said, smiling so hard I thought his face would break in two.

"I kissed her."

A/N: Fin. Finally, I finished it. I began to think that this would go on forever, but it was worth it. If anyone is still reading, I hope you enjoyed it. If no one is, never mind. I enjoyed it!


	13. Edward's First Date

A/N: So many people have asked for more, and up 'til now I've resisted temptation. Then I reached 101 reviews (I still don't believe that), and lions-lamb-4ever left a review for chapter ten that said "I want to see Esme's reaction" and I finally snapped. Started and completed within twenty four hours, here is the last chapter from Edward's perspective.

* * *

EPOV

I could already hear Esme's thoughts buzzing from the porch.

_Oh, can't they hurry up! Alice implied she was human still, but I know my daughter, she loves surprises so much—no, that's ridiculous, stop it. But even if Bella's entirely unharmed, what about him? His first date in eighty years at least, I still don't know if he had a girlfriend when he was human…_

When we emerged from the trees, I smiled at my mother immediately in order to assuage her various convoluted fears, and she replied in kind, her soft features transformed from anxiety to intense relief and unselfish joy. Her mental monologue took on a new tenor.

_Have I ever seen him smile like that? How wonderful; this girl must be so special. I always said he was in love with her._

I fought the temptation to roll my eyes. Both Esme and Alice had been quite vehement in their protestations of my emotional state, even as I tried to deny it. It was Jasper who had finally brought me out of my denial, convincing me by demonstration that my feelings for Bella were almost identical to his own regarding Alice.

As my sister and I neared the house, Esme began a silent assault of questions: _how did it go? Did she like your meadow? Does she mind about what we are?_

Instantly upon reaching her, I was swept up in a tight embrace. Such a strange sensation after holding fragile Bella all day and strange beyond that: I had made no pretence regarding my dislike of personal contact over the last eighty years. Nevertheless, I found myself hugging her back.

I caught a stray observation from Alice, _Bella really has changed him_, but Esme's attack was relentless.

_Did you meet her father? Alice said you went home with her? Did she invite you? Did you go at her pace? Alice said you did on the way. Did-_

"Slow down!" I exclaimed, chuckling at her enthusiasm.

She smiled in apology. _Alright, I'll calm down. And here I was, telling Alice to relax! Shall we go inside? Carlisle and Jasper are waiting, too._

Of course I already knew that; I could hear them worrying despite my laughter, but I nodded anyway, and we all filed in.

Alice was cheekily scornful of our assembled family. _They're like a bunch of fishwives, always eager for new gossip, _she thought derisively.

I winked at her in agreement, and she smiled. My own grin faded quickly as I heard Jasper looking for the colour of my eyes. I turned to face first him, then Carlisle, slowly and deliberately until they relaxed. Jasper, however, remained unconvinced.

_He could still have done it accidentally; humans are so delicate._

I stopped myself dwelling on that too much. "Yes, she's still alive," I assured them. Before either could give voice to their apologies, I smiled with feigned lassitude. "Let's get this over with, then."

_Did she like the meadow? _This from Esme, who seemed to be working from a checklist.

"Yes," I answered, but before I could elaborate-

_And your skin in the sun?_

"Yes."

_It didn't shock her?_

"Some," I admitted, relishing the memory of her fingers tracing my palms.

_But not scare her?_

"No," I smiled.

Esme's face, by now, was triumphant, but the expression faltered slightly with her next question, or rather statement. _Alice said you showed her your strength and speed._

"Yes," I confessed, slightly shamefaced. Of course Esme picked up on that.

_You didn't scare her off, though._

"Not quite," I said, feeling guilty once more.

_Don't be melodramatic then. Alice said she forgave you._

"Yes," I agreed.

"For God's sake, can you please speak out loud?" Jasper exploded. I hadn't noticed his growing irritation in the face of Esme's interrogation.

"Don't blaspheme, Jasper," Esme scolded him maternally. "I'm sorry," she apologised, before turning back to me. "Alright then, what _did _she think of that?"

Jasper groaned in frustration, causing Carlisle and Alice to laugh. I smiled fondly at them all. "She's asking what Bella thought when I showed her… what I could do," I explained to Jasper.

_Good thing Emmett's not here, he'd have a field day of innuendos, _Alice observed.

"True," I answered, already regretting my choice of words.

Jasper groaned again, unable to follow the conversation. "Oh, don't you start!" he complained to Alice.

She danced prettily to his side, curling up to him and giggling. "Sorry, Jazz," she said, fluttering her eyelids provocatively.

Her flirting had the desired effect, and already Jasper's mental imagery was bordering on the x-rated as he pulled his fingers through her inky hair. "You're forgiven," he murmured, and his voice was far lower than necessary.

"Jasper!" I grimaced, trying to block out his thoughts, finding solace in the relative safety of Carlisle's mind and his amusement at our situation.

"Sorry," Jasper apologised, but his eyes and thoughts were still trained on Alice.

"Children!" _Why, oh why do three of them have to be talented?_

"Sorry, Mom," we so-called children chorused obediently.

Carlisle sighed at the absurd normality of it all.

Deciding it was time to move the conversation back on track, I recounted the latter stages of mine and Esme's conversation. "Yes, anyway, she was scared, but she forgave me."

"Does she seriously not care that you're fighting not to kill her?" Jasper asked.

Alice instantly elbowed her incredulous husband in the side. "Tactful." _Sorry, Edward._

"No, it's okay, Alice," I told her, and she brightened noticeably. "And I don't think 'not caring' is the right way to describe it," I said to Jasper. "She finds it…"

What did Bella think of my being a vampire? She claimed it didn't matter, but obviously it changed our relationship—how it thrilled me to say those words!—and generally for the worse. It put barriers between us, stopped us from being together in every sense of the word. And yet she called me beautiful; she saw my skin sparkling in the sunlight, denouncing me for the monster I was, and found it desirable. I was selfish enough to enjoy my 'dazzling' effects on her.

"She finds it an inconvenience," I began again.

Alice broke in, looking up at me irreverently. _Like when she's kissing you._

I ignored both her teasing and my own flutter of my excitement that flared insuppressibly. "—and it does worry her, but she seems to think it's worth it."

_That __you're__ worth it, _Esme corrected me.

_She sounds extraordinary, _Carlisle commented.

_Bloody hell, _was Jasper's observation. _Either mad or in love._

"What did you tell her about the rest of us?" Esme asked, her curiosity insatiable.

"Not much," I answered honestly. "I told her that Carlisle saved you, how you two," looking at Jasper and Alice curled up together, "joined us, how Rosalie found Emmett…" It occurred to me that whilst I hadn't exactly expected Rosalie to join a welcoming party, I had at least thought her curiosity would drive her to find out whether or not I had killed Bella. Now I thought about it, though, I realised I could hear neither Rosalie nor Emmett in the house.

"Where are Rose and Em by the way?" I asked no one in particular.

Silence, which for me could not be true silence, reigned.

_Gone to Seattle for a romantic break, _Jasper recounted, cold and factual.

_She's still being stubborn, _Alice added. _Such a shame, doesn't she want him to be happy? _she asked herself rhetorically.

_It was Alice's idea to invite Bella round tomorrow that decided her, _Esme informed me. _Alice has told you about that?_

_I know that she seems selfish, but you know better than us that she does have genuine reasons and grievances, _Carlisle reminded me.

"I see," I stated coldly, cutting them off.

"Don't be too hard on her," Esme pleaded, and I felt guilty for my harsh tone.

I shook my head and echoed Carlisle's thoughts. "I know why she's doing it."

I heard Carlisle's approval, but it was overshadowed by a strong and familiar complaint from my little sister. _Wish I did. I really don't understand why she has such a problem with Bella. What's Bella ever done to her?_

"She's human," I answered Alice.

_So are most people, _Jasper pointed out.

"For Rosalie, that's everything she wants and everything she can't have," I explained. "Bella is an unwelcome reminder of her loss."

Jazz was convinced, but Alice was shrewder. _That can't be it,_ she reasoned, and I threw a quick glance at her.

Of course she was right. Bella wasn't just human, she was of childbearing age. And in addition to that, she was slightly perturbed that I could find desire in a person whom she described as a _plain little girl_, and never once look at her beautiful self with lust.

Meanwhile, Alice had correctly interpreted my glance to mean that she was correct in her assumptions. _He won't tell me what else, though. Maybe Rose will, once Bella joins the family._

I wasn't aware of stiffening until everybody noticed it.

_Sorry! _Alice thought. Deciding that there wasn't going to be a better time to ask, she began to plead with me. "Can you please bring her round tomorrow? She'll be perfectly safe."

The vision that followed was an entire day condensed into a fraction of a second, and I had to admit there was nothing that could cause even the slightest worry.

"See?" Alice crowed triumphantly. Still I hesitated. "Look, I know you really want her to come because otherwise I wouldn't see it at all. Give in!"

It was true, I did want Bella to meet my family; I wanted them to meet her, too. Moreover, I wanted them to like each other. Though I knew Esme would love her no matter what, and Alice knew already that they would be best friends, I wanted my father and brothers to approve of my girlfriend, no matter how inappropriate either title was.

On the other hand, I knew my Bella. How many times this morning had she nearly stabbed herself on thorns, or grazed her palms on rough bark? Had I not been there, she could have seriously hurt herself on the unfriendly terrain, and yet had I not been there, a thorn or a graze would have posed no serious risk to her health. The paradox was constant and irritating.

"Edward," Carlisle said at last. "Alice will be on constant alert tomorrow. And I must say, it would be nice to meet Bella outside of the emergency room."

I laughed, and decided to take the chance. After all, it had to happen some time.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Alice squealed. She jumped to her feet and began spinning round the room like a top. Everybody watched her affectionately. In so many ways she was a child, and yet she was unbelievably mature whenever any one of us needed her. As well as my sister, Alice was my best friend.

"That reminds me," said Esme, following Alice's dizzying progress with a slight frown. "Could you please tell us what got Alice so excited earlier?"

Alice stopped abruptly, her face inscribed with glee as I tuned into the memory, seeing the world revolve at an alarming rate as Alice spun Esme round, hearing the delighted squeals, and I was ninety eight percent certain what Alice had seen. Nonetheless, I still had to ask.

"Which particular event inspired that sort of reaction?"

By this stage, Alice was grinning evilly. _You look so nervous! _"Oh, that was" _the kiss, as well you know, Mister Hotlips."_

"Ah," was the best response I could come out with.

"Well?" Esme asked. _You know you'll have to tell us at some point, Edward._

Carlisle was smiling ruefully at me. _If it's anything dreadfully embarrassing, I do apologise._

"I…" I started again, but I found myself unable to continue. Why, I wasn't sure. It wasn't embarrassing, not at all. Nevertheless, it felt private. Intimate. Far too personal. And would Carlisle perhaps consider it too reckless? I didn't want to taint our only kiss any more than it was tainted already.

"Spit it out!" Jasper exclaimed. _You're the mind reader, not us!_

"Alice, you tell them," I said, trying to bail out.

"No way," she refused flatly. _I could have done that hours ago!_

I sighed, giving in to Alice yet again. "Alright then." I took another deep breath.

"I kissed her."

_No…_

_He's joking._

_I don't believe it._

_Definitely not._

_He's not joking._

_Oh my goodness, this is brilliant! I'm so glad I didn't tell them! You'll love this, Edward, in three, two, one…_

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!"

I was crushed entirely in another hug from Esme and I couldn't resist laughing at her enthusiasm.

"You…" Jasper began from somewhere. _…kissed her. You, Edward Cullen…_

"I thought you smelt quite strongly of her," Esme gushed, pulling back to look me in the eye before clutching me to her again. "Oh, that's wonderful, you're so strong, oh my son!"

"You actually…" _kissed her. So close to your teeth, and you actually…_

Carlisle got up to clap me on the back. "I'm incredibly proud of you, son. When are you joining me at the hospital?" he joked.

"You…" _kissed her. I still don't believe…_

"Not yet," I told Carlisle, leaving Jasper to trail off yet again. "I'm quite enjoying being a teenager right now."

"You actually managed to…"

I thought he might complete the sentence this time, but no.

"Spit it out, Jazz!" Alice said, repeating his own advice from earlier.

Jasper still hadn't moved an inch, utterly frozen by shock. Thankfully, Alice's prompt allowed him to voice an entire, coherent sentence. "You actually kissed her."

"Yes," I said, sharing a grateful smile with Alice, my amazingly annoying little sister who had forced me to say this out loud.

"I kissed her."

* * *

A/N: That's it. Finito. End…

… unless I snap again and decide to write Sunday. _**IF**_ I do, it won't be for ages, so don't hold your breath. I hope you enjoyed this.

_Addendum: I've now posted a prequel of sorts to this story, called **Secrets**, in which Alice's vision of 'the blurred girl' is explored much more thoroughly, along with Edward's reaction to said vision through the decades. Give it a chance, please; it recently won the Twilight Anniversary Challenge competition. Thank you!_


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